Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Romanian Sources on Mass Murder in Transnistria

Author: Jonathan Harrison

In 2003, Jean Ancel published the definitive study of Romanian misrule in Transnistria, including summaries and facsimiles of 1109 documents. I have posted some extracts here, along with a tabulation of sources here on shootings in Transnistria by German Selbstschutz units. I would draw three conclusions from these documents. Firstly, Antonescu's intention is clear that the deported Jews should die by starvation and disease if they cannot be driven across the Bug to be shot by the Germans (documents 31 and 279). Secondly, there is no doubt that conditions at Bogdanovka and other camps on the Bug were not designed to allow life to be sustainable [document 165: there are already 11,000 [in Bogdanovka] in sties not even large enough for 7,000 pigs]. Thirdly, the Germans over the Bug refused to handle these Jews, apart from a few thousand recruited for Organization Todt. Their actions indicate that they shared Richter's knowledge, namely that the "Purpose of the action is the liquidation of these Jews" (3319-PS).